The Sports Page        

Erie League set to kick off 13th season

Welcome to the 2002 Erie Fantasy Football League Season! It's once again that time of year where football is right around the corner and preparations are being made for the coming months. As a current owner in the league, you are being given a first chance to reserve your spot for the 2002 season. Send in a check (made out to Kirk Pavelich) or cash in the amount of $20 by Tuesday, July 31, 2002 and you will guarantee yourself the chance to compete in the Erie League's 13th season. You then have two options: 1.) Use the money to reserve a player from your 2001 roster (at the price you paid during last year's auction) or 2.) Use the money as a down payment on your $100 entry fee.

The All-American Conference Auction will be held on Saturday, August 17, 2002 (at 6 pm) while the Browns Conference Auction will take place on Sunday, August 18, 2002 (at 11:30 am). Both events will be held for the first time at the Ground Round in Kent, located at 1888 State Route 59. The NFL Season will kick off this year on Thursday, September 5th. 

If you plan to use your $20 fee on reserving a player from last year's roster, you must declare this player in writing to the commissioner by Tuesday, July 31, 2002. If you decide that you want to change the declared player prior to your conference's draft, you will have that option up until the start of your auction. You may also decide after July 31st to not protect a player, at which point your $20 will be used as a down payment for your entry fee. Just as with last season, $75 of the initial fee is for the league entry payment while $25 will be kept in reserve for transactions.

If you have any questions about money deadlines, the franchise player procedure, or anything else, feel free to call Commissioner Kirk Pavelich at 419-660-1243 or e-mail him at KPAVELICH@neo.rr.com. 

Several new players have contacted me regarding a spot in the league. I have told them that I cannot guarantee anything until August 1, 2002, the day after the payment deadline for current owners. At that point, I will examine how many openings we have and it will become first to pay is first to play! If you know you are not playing this year, please let me know as soon as possible.

To get in on the action again this year, simply respond by July 31st with check or cash in the amount of $20 to one of the following addresses: (BEFORE JULY 1ST) Kirk Pavelich, 14 Liberty Street, Norwalk, OH. 44857; (AFTER JULY 1ST) Kirk Pavelich, 14 Manchester Drive, Norwalk, OH. 44857. We are moving into a new home next week so I want to make sure I am able to receive payments at the new address. Please call 419-660-1243 if you have any questions.

If possible, I'd like to phase myself out of the commissioner duties somewhat this year. I'm still going to run all the stats and publish a weekly Sports Page. However, I'd like to find one player from the All-American Conference and one from the Browns Conference who would be interested in running transactions each week. Basically you just need to take calls for an hour and a half each week and then submit the transactions to me via e-mail. For doing such a service, I will knock $50 off your entry fee. Let me know if any of you are interested and available.

The scoring system will again be combined (points for touchdowns and yards) so prepare accordingly. We were going to go with decimal scoring but we'll instead go with the traditional format that has been used since the beginning in the Erie League. Good luck! See you at Auction 2002!